He had not been able to sleep that night... All night, he had been working on strategies for how to get out of the situation he was in. His tired body was telling him to lie down, but his brain would not let him. “I have to solve this! I have to...” he kept saying.
As the silence of the night gave way to the energy of the morning, he was still on his feet. He hoped that sunrise would help his ideas and that new ones would come to him... That was partly why he had waited until morning... But things had not turned out as he had hoped. That morning, his mind had betrayed him; yet it had always supported him in reaching the position he now held. His only …[truncated]solace was his teammates, with whom he had struggled for years. “Surely they’ve found a way out,” he said, seeking a little peace!
He knew that he had to put all this aside and get ready as soon as possible! First he took a shower, then put on the special suit he had made a habit of wearing on important days; he believed it brought him luck at every important meeting...
He was having breakfast with his family and glancing through the newspapers! Every newspaper was talking about the things that had kept him awake. The columnists were commenting on what he would do. For a moment, he felt his heart sink! Even the columnist he trusted most had backed him into a corner. On top of all his problems and unease, he now felt disappointed too...
He left the house with these feelings, as if he did not want to leave at all... The driver of the official car waiting at the door opened it for him! At that moment, the last thing he wanted was to get into that car. But there was no way out! He would have to get in...
In the car, he stared blankly at the streets! He was looking for a little peace, hopelessly... Uneasy moments awaited him; he knew that as he entered the cabinet meeting, he would have to walk past the journalists waiting with curiosity. “The journalists and their questions... What am I going to tell them now?” he wondered, coming up with evasive answers in his mind...
When he arrived at the Prime Ministry, he saw that it was not only journalists who were waiting for him. They were doing to him what he had done for years... Yet after becoming Prime Minister, he had brought into his cabinet everyone who might have been likely to stage a protest: He had given the Ministry of National Education to Şenel Elcil and the Ministry of Labor to Ahmet Kaptan. He had not forgotten those with previous experience as protesters, either. Although they had been elected to parliament from other parties in the previous term, he had taken their protest-organizing skills into account and made Ahmet Çaluda Minister of Agriculture and Ahmet Barçın Minister of Foreign Affairs. He had given a position to everyone in the country who was capable of staging a protest.
But there were some he had forgotten!
Experienced politicians...
After Adnan Eraslan, the leader of Sendikalar Partisi, became Prime Minister, Derviş Eroğlu, who had retired from politics, founded ‘Ulusal Birlik Hareketi’; Ferdi Sabit Soyer founded ‘Cumhuriyetçi Türk Memurlar Sendikası’; Serdar Denktaş founded ‘Demokrat Turizmciler Birliği’; Mehmet Çakıcı founded ‘Toplumcu Demokrat Hareketi’; and Turgay Avcı founded ‘Özgür ve Reformcu İşçiler Birliği’!
And now all these former politicians were staging protests outside the Prime Ministry, targeting Adnan Eraslan’s cabinet. Their placards read: S. Denktaş: “There’s sand on our beaches! It sticks to us everywhere. It must be cleaned up!”
Avcı: “The Prime Minister has an eyebrow above his eye! Unacceptable!”
Çakıcı: “A mosquito bit me last night! Why doesn’t it bite other people? Where is democracy? Where is the state?”
Soyer: “If these problems of ours aren’t resolved, our shock actions will be followed by strikes! Government, be ready!”
The placard carried by Eroğlu caught Prime Minister Eraslan’s attention most of all: “The rights of retirees must not be touched.”
At first, he could not understand any of the placards other than the one Eroğlu was carrying.
Then the actions he himself had staged came to mind, and suddenly everything made sense!
Fortunately, he opened his eyes when he heard his wife say, “Adnan, wake up!”…
His wife’s frightened eyes had woken him from this nightmare!
Hoping to see you on Tuesday...
Pay attention to your surroundings, keep them clean, and be respectful in traffic! | What If There Is No Solution? ---7.08.2009 All right, let’s not think negatively; let’s focus on a solution.
Let’s assume there is a referendum and both sides reject it. ‘Well,’ what happens then?
Though it may seem like a simple word, saying ‘well’ comes with responsibilities of its own!
You can avoid very long sentences by simply saying ‘well,’ or you can start your sentence with ‘well’ and ask an effective question, while seeming to accept in advance what has been put to you...
However, the conditions that would make you say ‘well’ have to be created.
In other words, the situation and/or the person or people you are speaking with have to bring you to the point of saying ‘well’...
For example:
You can answer your boss, who says, “From now on, you won’t be late for work, and you’ll carry out the tasks I give you to the letter,” with “well.” You have accepted what was said! But you also have the chance to give the word ‘well’ a different meaning through your facial expressions and tone of voice. You can make it mean ‘All right, we’ll see about that’... I don’t think it would be wrong to say that “in accusations and dictatorial demands of this kind, the word is used in this sense more often”!
On the other hand, the word is also used in a way that makes the other person feel you accept what has happened or what they have told you...
The moment you say ‘well’ to someone trying to persuade you, the person opposite you is overcome with the thrill of victory. But a question that follows brings them down from that high... To be frank, that is when it becomes more effective.
Often, questions of this kind are effective and put the other person in a difficult position!
Because when you begin your question with ‘well,’ you send the message that you are not interested in what they are trying to say, but in what comes after it!
And if that person isn’t ready for this, the brain that thinks it has persuaded you will play funeral songs from its record collection instead of victory songs!
For example:
If you ask a government official who is defending a measure by saying, “With the arrangement we’ve made here, our citizens will be able to benefit from state services by paying a very low fee,” the question, “Well, if citizens don’t want to use this service, don’t you think all the money the state has spent on this arrangement will have gone to waste?” you’ll hear a string of hemming and hawing. Yet the question must have seemed to begin so nicely to that government official.
That is the power of the word ‘well’!
First it gives, then it takes away...
Taking this as my starting point, I also have some questions that begin with ‘well’!
Especially on the ‘Cyprus Problem’...
It’s all well and good for the leaders to talk... ‘Well,’ what happens if no agreement is reached at the end of the negotiations?
Let’s assume there is a referendum and both sides reject it. ‘Well,’ what happens then?
All right, let’s not think negatively; let’s focus on a solution. But you keep telling our people that the current situation is unsustainable. ‘Well,’ if there is no solution, how will you create a sustainable situation for our people?
You say the TRNC will never be recognized. ‘Well,’ if there is no solution, what will we be left with? What will we do? What is your Plan B?
UN officials say, “This is the last chance.” ‘Well,’ have our officials asked them, “What is your plan if there is no solution?”...
...
(You can continue with the questions...)
Hoping to see you on Tuesday...
Pay attention to your surroundings, keep them clean, and be respectful in traffic!